Ramblings

Hiatus Until June 1 2014

hiatus-2014

I was hoping beyond hope that I would not have to put the blog on Hiatus at all this year, but that just isn’t going to happen, sadly.

A lot of things are happening at the end of May, so I’ve decided to place Paper Thin Personas on hiatus until June 1, 2014 when I will return with a bang I hope… including a contest and hopefully a new featured paper doll artist. So, high hopes for tall of those things.

I will be checking my email and you can still contact me there if you need too. In the meantime, feel free to look around and enjoy the paper dolls.

See you all when I return in June. It should be a fun ride from there. 🙂

Confessions of a Paper Doll Blogger

confessions_pd_image
One of the things I have been collecting lately on Pinterest has been blogging prompts and ideas. It was from this list from The SITS Girls that I discovered April 30th is National Honesty Day. I missed National Honesty Day, but I thought it would be interesting to post a few things on this blog that I wouldn’t normally post or share.

My Confessions…

 

— I’ve gotten two emails from readers who thought I was African-American due to the large ethnic diversity of my paper dolls. Figuring out how to politely dissuade them of that notion makes me feel really awkward.

— I live in terror that I will someday draw something and someone will email me telling me that my depiction of their race or culture is wrong and/or racist. This is why I do not draw traditional clothing of other cultures. (Actually, there are about a dozen reasons I don’t draw traditional clothing of other cultures, so maybe I should do a whole post on that…)

— Sometimes I get really strange thank you emails. One came from a bible camp leader who was planning to use my Knight paper doll to teach girls about the “armor of abstinence” and I politely asked them to not do so. Nothing against abstinence or armor, but somehow the idea of sex ed and my paper dolls being in the same room sorta freaked me out.

— Technically, I still owe my best friend a paper doll inspired by the Vorkosigan Saga series by Louise Bujold. It’s very shameful. Someday, I will get it done… (Of course, if she’s reading this she is rolling her eyes at me.)

— Every once in a while someone makes a request, usually a perfectly reasonable kind request and I think to myself, “Isn’t it enough what I do? How dare you ask me to do more? You entitled twit.” Then I drink a glass of tea, calm down and remind myself that I am TOTALLY over reacting. Please don’t stop making requests. I really don’t mind getting them, except sometimes… late at night… after a bad day at work… when I’m in a grumpy mood.

— I was once told my Cybergoth paper doll was inappropriate for children. I suggested that the offended individual avoid giving it to children. See… Problem solved.

— I draw very cartoony paper dolls, because I really don’t know how to draw hyper-realistic ones. Usually this doesn’t bother me, but sometimes I feel like a fraud, especially when people ask me for drawing advice.

— I am grateful everyday for the wonderful readers and fellow paper doll bloggers on the internet who remind me that I am not alone, that my hobby isn’t too strange and that my love of these fragile ephemeral paper toys is something worth sharing.

So, these are my confessions. What are yours? Are there times when you feel like I do about your readers? Or about your art? What’s the strangest email you’ve ever gotten? What’s the one thing about your art you’ve never admitted bothers you? Anyone willing to share your thoughts?

Terms of Use: What they Are & Why You Need One

terms_of_use_statementsI went years without a Terms of Use statement. I didn’t want to bother writing one and I know enough about copyright to know that my general site notice was enough, in fact, the moment an artistic work is created than it is protected, regardless of whether or not a person actually places a copyright statement on the item.

However, I had some paper doll images stolen by a for profit enterprise and although we came to an equitable arrangement, I realized I had made a huge mistake by not making my terms absolutely clear. I might know a fair bit about copyright, but my readers likely don’t.

So, I drafted a terms of use and then posted it.

I know writing a terms of use statement is a little frightening, but the language doesn’t have to be scary. Still, there are times and places to be funny and charming, but your terms of use isn’t one of them. Be clear and simple in your language. Also, include contact information, because if people have questions, they should be able to ask them somewhere private and you don’t want someone claiming that they couldn’t get a hold of you.

Here are some questions to consider while drafting a terms of Use:

  • Who has the right to profit from your paper dolls?
  • Who has the right to print your work in multiple copies?
  • Can people post your work in other places? Under what conditions? With credit? What form should that credit take?
  • Are you waiving your copyright? Remember, once copyright is waived for an image, you can not get it back just because someone used it in a way that you do not like.
  • If someone draws an outfit for your paper doll (or creates a “derivative work”), can they post it? Can they profit from it?
  • Is your work licensed under something like Creative Commons? If so, that needs to be made clear on your site as well.

Once you have written your draft statement, ask a friend to read it for editing and clarity, then link it somewhere obvious. Mine is under my About tab and in my header. I know that seems like a lot, but I don’t want someone saying that they couldn’t find it.

And I get questions regularly from people who say, “I was reading your terms of use and I wanted to know if I could…” I don’t mind these questions. It means the Terms of Use is working and findable.

Lastly, I should note: I am not a lawyer and nothing I have said here should be construed to constitute legal advice. I am an archivist and librarian and paper doll lover, nothing more… nothing less.

Questions? Thoughts? Have you ever had your work taken without your permission? How did you deal with it?

Feeding the Blog Monster

Sometimes, I think of my blog as a monster. I call it “DaBlog Monster.”

And it is my job to feed the monster paper dolls (other blogs may hunger for other things) lest it devour the world and/or the souls of children.

blog-monster

Feeding the blog is not always easy and can be stressful. I’ve learned a few tips and tricks to keep me sane while I do it and I thought I’d share those today.

So, this is how I feel DaBlog Monster….

I work in several things at once.

I get bored easily. Having four or five different paper dolls in different stages of development means I can hop around and do what I feel like. If I want to ink, I can ink. If I want to sketch, I can sketch. If I want to color, I can color. If I want to mess with layouts, I can mess with layouts. (I never WANT to mess with layouts, but… it has to be done.)

The thing about paper dolls is they should be fun. Once drawing them stops being fun, I think you need to find something else to do. Not to suggest that slumps don’t happen (they to do everyone), but pleasure should out weigh pain.

I work in spurts.

Let me describe what last week looked like… On Saturday, I scanned a bunch of things including a Marisole Monday set, two poppets sets and some new pieces for Greta’s trousseau. On Sunday, I finished up the next Marisole Monday post. On Monday, I worked on my Grandmother’s 90th birthday present, did a little inking and cleaned my bathrooms. On Tuesday, I went grocery shopping, did laundry and spent the evening reading about World War One propaganda for a conference presentation I am working on. On Wednesday, I ran a few errands, worked more on my Grandma’s birthday gift and cleaned my apartment. On Thursday, I cooked for a dinner party I was hosting Friday and did more cleaning. On Friday, I had friends over, served them enchiladas and had a lovely time.

The moral of this story: I didn’t spent and I don’t spend every waking moment thinking about or working on paper dolls. I do work intensely and then I stop.

I space out my posts.

WordPress has a scheduling feature (as do most other blog platforms). Know it. Love it. Use it.

So, imagine you’d just finished two paper dolls and that’s wonderful. Now… when do you post them?

Think about schedules. Is next week insane like my last week was insane? Are there a dozen things you have to do in the coming month? Should you post one now and save the other for when you’re in a pinch? What’s the best option?

Just because something is done, doesn’t mean it has to go up. Save things for times when you’re crunched.

Plan ahead.

Okay, this one I’m not so good at, but I try to think about what holidays are upcoming. Do I want to do a Passover paper doll? This coming up fast. How about something for May day? Or the summer solstice? When is the summer solstice? (I have no idea without looking it up.)

I know it takes a long time for me to go from idea, to sketch, to final sketch, to inking, to coloring, and then to posting. I don’t like to rush it. I can if I have too, but I’d rather not have too.

So, these are the ways I feed my blog monster. How do you feed yours?

An Interview with my Featured Paper Doll Artist of the Month: Liana of Liana’s Paper Doll Blog

Paper doll gown by Liana of Liana's Paper Doll Blog. Posted with Permission. This month I was so pleased to be able to interview Liana of Liana’s Paper Doll Blog. I fell in love with Liana’s Paper Doll Blog back when she was posting Anna in 2004 (There’s a wonderful retrospective on her site) which was my first year of college and I remember reading it while sitting in my dorm room and feeling pleased that someone else actually liked paper dolls other than me.

Many years later, after college, I followed Sylvia and Iris while I was working at the State Library of Alaska. I checked the site every day at lunch. I watched her site and I thought, “I could do this. I could make a paper doll blog.”

In a very real way, Paper Thin Personas would have never existed without Liana’s Paper Doll Blog. I owe her so much.

So, I was excited and elated when she agreed to let me interview her for this month’s Featured Artist. Go read her interview and check out her amazing site.

Announcement: Email Subscription

announcement_2For those of you who have signed up for email notices when the site updates, that system not currently working.

Something has gone wrong with the email plugin I was using. I am working on fixing it, but in the mean time, I have removed the sign up form until I can get it figured out. It also has deleted everyone’s email that was on the list.

So… this kinda sucks. I’ll let people know when I have figured out either a new system or fixed the old system.

Until then, there is no email subscription for the site. Instead, you can sign up for the RSS feed if you wish, or just check back. As always, I update about three times a week.

Thanks for your patience guys. Any questions? Feel free to ask.

Best,

– Rachel

Melinda’s Leprechaun

I do have a plan for a St. Patrick’s Day paper doll, but it’s not a leprechaun. As many of you know, it can take me a long time to go from paper doll idea to actual paper doll (sometimes as long as a year), so I usually try to plan holiday paper dolls several months in advance.

However, I had some requests for a Margot leprechaun and one of my readers, named Melinda, decided to take things into her own hands and create one.

thumb-Lady_Leprechaun_Melinda
I’d like everyone to meet the leprechaun by Melinda. Melinda is a sophmore at Seattle University and she decided we needed a leprechaun paper doll, so she took outfits from several different sets and created one of her own. I’ve added the leprechaun, along with another paper doll set colored by Melinda to the Showcase.

How cool is that?

So, I have a challenge for everyone else. Can anyone name all the sets these pieces come from? I’m embarrassed to admit that I got a few of them right off and then I had to search for one of them to make sure I was right.

An Interview with my Featured Paper Doll Artist of the Month: Boots of 19th Century Paper Dolls and Comic Book Chronicles

Paper doll by Boots. Posted with permission. I interviewed Boots of Comic Book Chronicles and 19th Century Paper Dolls for my Featured Artist of March 2014.

Many years ago when I started this blog, I started in part because of two wonderful paper doll blogs that existed at the time. One was Liana’s Paper Doll Blog and the other was Boot’s 19th Century Paper Dolls. Since then, I am pleased to have come to think of Boots as not just a paper doll artist whose work I deeply admire, but also a friend.

Boots’ paper dolls are wonderful, wether historically accurate or comic book inspired. Her work has a realism that I deeply admire and she uses pen and ink, markers and paints with equal skill to create vibrant and beautiful paper doll sets. Along with her serious work, there is a delifhtful playfulness to Boots paper dolls. Judy, her seriocomic paper doll or Batman and Robin from the Bronze Age of comic books. I see in Boot’s wonderfully rendered figures a depth of character. I never doubt that each of her paper dolls has a history or comes from a place where if I asked about each costume, there would be a story behind it.

Check out my Featured Artist Page for a free printable paper doll by Boots and a fascinating interview.

What Did Anglo-Saxon Women Wear in the 10th Century?

The internet can be pretty messy when it comes to historical costume and fashion research. When I started working on my 10th century Anglo-Saxon paper doll for one of my drawing winners, Gwendolyn, I found myself flummoxed.

disc-broochThe 10th century is a transitional period in Anglo-Saxon dress and not one extensively covered in most sources. I hope to have my Anglo-Saxon paper doll up tomorrow.

A full bibliography is at the bottom of the post, each plate is credited underneath it. Since I can’t seem to get my footnotes plugin to work, I’m going to use inline citations (which I hate, by the way, but what can you do?). There is only one book I was able to find that covers the 10th century with the sort of detail I wanted and that was Owen-Crocker’s Dress in Anglo-Saxon England. You’re going to see me mostly citing her. (Funny story, I found another book which covered the period briefly and the person they cited was… drum roll please… Owen-Crocker.)

So… Let’s do this thing!

More Here

Six Paper Doll Drawing Tools I Can’t Live Without

paper-doll-supplies

Let us, for a moment, talk about supplies. One of the thing that keeps me drawing paper dolls is that I don’t need a lot of gear. I can get by on a pretty small set of art supplies.

Here’s what I use:

1. A sketchbook.

I keep trying out new sketchbooks. I’ll go to the store and I’ll stand looking at the sketchbooks and I’ll think… this time I’ll try this kind and then I try it and I don’t like it and I go back to my Carson Universal sketchbook. Seriously, I seem to always go back to this sketchbook. It takes both ink and pencil well. It’s a nice size. Also, it’s not too expensive.

By the way, I don’t date the pages of my sketchbook, but I do date the cover. That way I know when I drew the stuff inside.

2. Mechanical Pencils

I like cheap mechanical pencils with lead size .07. I buy them in bulk. I lose them all the time, but they’re cheap, so I don’t mind. I like Bic brand, because they have decent erasers. I tend to use the pencil eraser when I’m not thinking and if it’s a bad eraser than it ruins what I’m working on and I get mad.

3. uni-ball Vision Micro Point Rollerball Pens

These .5 mm black ball point pens are what I use for all my inking needs. I adore them. They are cheap, fairly smear proof (not entirely smear proof) and can make smooth lines. They work well on my sketchpads and they are much cheaper than actual art pens. Make sure you ge the .5mm size though, the larger sizes don’t work so well for delicate line-work.

4. Staedtler Mars Plastic Eraser

Buy a few different erasers and decide what you like the best. I love these erasers, because they are soft enough not to damage my paper and I do a lot of erasing.

5. Brush for Eraser crumbles

I bought this brush on a whim. I am totally addicted to it now and sometimes take it with me when I travel. Seriously, I am not kidding. It sweeps up all those little annoying left over eraser bits and brushes off you image. How is this not the best thing EVER?

6. Drafting Templates

I use these to draw circles (because seriously, who can draw a decent circle? Not me) and other geometric shapes. I like that they are small and thin. I have one for squares too.

So, that’s it. That’s my gear. What do you use to do your art?

An Interview with my Featured Paper Doll Artist of the Month: Toria of the Paper Closet

Vet paper doll by Toria of Paper Closet. Posted with permission. I am totally excited about my new Featured Artist Page. One of my goals for the new year has been to feature other artists I think draw beautiful paper dolls and this my first-
Toria of A Paper Closet.

Toria, was kind enough to be interviewed as my inaugural artist of the month. I adore Toria’s work and
her blog is beautifully designed and consistently updated. Her paper dolls are fabulous.

Read Toria’s interview and download a free, unique, printable paper doll set featuring a man (I know… people who aren’t me draw them) and women with beautiful historical costumes over on my Featured Artist Page.

And the Contest/Drawing Winner Is…

Originally, I was going to have just one winner, but then I took a good long look at the wonderful and constructive comments I got from my readers and I’ve decided that I should do more than that.

So, I decided to have two winners of my drawing. This does mean that it might take a little longer for their winning paper dolls to be finished.

Congratulations to Gwendolyn and Jo– my winners. Jo emailed me directly, so her comment does not appear on the site.

If I don’t here back from my emails to them (which I will send in the morning when I am a wee bit more coherent) in a week, there will be a second drawing for a new Winner.

In case anyone is interested, what I did to find a winner was number all the comments and emails in chronological order, ignoring places where people posted more than once. I ended up with 23 entrants, including three people who chose to email me rather than post a comment on the blog. Because I placed those three entrants into my chronological list where their emails would have fallen if they had been comments, the numbers don’t line up with the comments perfectly.

Number 19, which was Gwendolyn, and number 23, which was Jo, according to my list, were the number produced by Random.Org at 12:03 and 12:05 tonight.

On that note, I am crawling into bed which is what rational people do after midnight. Seriously, next time I do a drawing, I’m going to schedule the end at like 3pm in the afternoon when sane people end these things.




I’m trying out a new polling code thing. We’ll see if I like it long term.